IB1 Language and Literature 2022 KN

How to analyze a speech/non-fiction:

The first step in the analysis is to understand the rhetorical situation of the speech/text. For this
use the rhetorical pentagon.

QUESTIONS FOR THE PENTAGON

Some general questions, which you should be able to answer after reading a speech. Not being able to answer these
questions means you need to re-visit the speech and read/listen again.

Answering these questions will give you a good idea of the strategic choices the sender has made. These strategic
choices are the analytical points of the pentagon.

The Writer = the who?

1. List basic facts about the speaker. Age, religion, education, race, ethnicity, sex etc. An important person?
An ordinary person? Do any of these create a certain effect? If yes, interesting! If no - who cares!
2. Expert on the topic? A layman? Ask yourself – what gives this person the right to speak on this subject. Do
any of these create a certain effect? If yes, interesting! If no - who cares!
3. How would the audience perceive the speaker? It does not matter what you think of the person to start with!
4. Does the speaker play a specific role in the circumstances? How does he/she react to circumstances?
5. What is the goal of the speaker? (to inform, to persuade, to delight)?
6. 1-4 are some of the elements of the speaker's ethos. Combine in order to give an assessment of the speaker's
ethos!

Topic = the what?

1. What is the general subject?

2. Is the subject controversial? If so, why?
3. Does the speaker do anything to make it less/more controversial?
4. Is the topic very much bound to the audience and the circumstances – or is it more general?
5. Does the language make the topic more or less relevant/controversial etc.?

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The reader = to whom?

1. Who is the audience? Big/small? Basic facts!

1. primary audience - that is, those present and those addressed directly.
2. secondary audience - that is, everybody else who would be interested or affected by the speech.
2. Why would the audience be interested in the subject in the first place?
3. What limitations do circumstances and the audience put on the speaker? Is the speaker free to say anything?
4. Does the speaker include or exclude him/herself from the audience?
5. Are the audiences addressed directly or indirectly?

Circumstances = the when/where?

1. The historical context? Remember - every text is tied to the time it is produced in! Is this point a crucial
point in time?
2. Where? Does the place play any role? If so, which role?
3. When was it held? Important historical period? What came before?
4. Does the speech address circumstances directly? With what effect?

Language = the how?

1. Does the language fit the topic?

2. What linguistic registers are used? Simple/Complex language? Formal/Informal? Sociolects?
3. What rhetorical devices are used (see the list below)? What is the effect?
4. Is the language effective?
5. What kind of style and tone is used and for what purpose? What word classes dominate and to what effect?

Rhetorical devices
(= when a speaker/writer uses a trick with language in order to make it more interesting,
powerful)

Figures of speech/figurative language/imagery

SIMILE:

When two very different things are compared. The word “as” or “like” will be present in a simile – it’s a very blatant
form of metaphor.

e.g. He is as brave as a lion. (person + animal has nothing to do with each other logically. Person is
compared to something, and is given new qualities)

METAPHOR:

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When two very different things are compared, often giving something new qualities/attributes. As or like are not
present – the comparison is implicit.

e.g. She is a rock. (person + rock has nothing to do with each other logically. Person is given new
quality (stability, resilience, etc.)

PERSONIFICATION:

When a thing is given human abilities.

e.g. The book gave birth to a new line of thought. (books don’t give birth)

ALLUSION: a reference to a person, place, or piece of literature that is well known and familiar to the
reader/listener.

“Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation.” Abraham
Lincoln

EUPHEMISM: substitution of an agreeable or at least non-offensive expression for one whose plainer meaning
might be harsh or unpleasant.

Passed away instead of died

Letting someone go instead of firing someone

Negative patient outcome instead of dead

RHETORICAL QUESTION: a question which the audience know that they are not actually going to have to
answer, but it will make them sit up and wonder what is coming next.

“You ask, what is our policy? I will say: It is to wage war…” Winston Churchill

Figures of sound

ALLITERATION:

Makes you remember. Deals with the use, especially in poetry, of the same sound or sounds, especially consonants,
at the beginning of several words that are close together:

e.g. 'Round the rugged rocks the ragged rascal ran' uses alliteration

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ASSONANCE:

Again, helps you remember something. This time it’s vowels. Is common in rap-music and poetry.

Eg. Example: Try to light the fire.

We ain’t eager to be legal, so please, leave me with the keys to your Jeep–Eagle. —Bad Meets Evil
by Eminem & Royce da 5'9"

Figures of repetition

LIST OF THREE/RULE OF THREE: repetition of a word, phrase, or sentence in threes – creates a sense of
completeness.

“Government of the people, by the people, for the people.” Abraham Lincoln

“We cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow this ground.” Abraham Lincoln

“Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.” Mahatma
Gandhi

“The time for the healing of the wounds has come. The moment to bridge the chasms that divide
us has come. The time to build upon is upon us.” Nelson Mandela

ANAPHORA: The repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of lines, creating rhetorical emphasis on that
phrase. Used for effect to emphasise a point or to build up tension.

No way that just happened. No way this is happening.

”We shall not flag or fail. We shall go on to the end. We shall fight in France, we shall fight on the
seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall
defend our island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the
landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills. We shall
never surrender.” Churchill.

ANTISTROPHE: repetition of the same word or phrase at the end of successive clauses.

”In 1931, ten years ago, Japan invaded Manchukuo -- without warning. In 1935, Italy invaded
Ethiopia -- without warning. In 1938, Hitler occupied Austria -- without warning. In 1939, Hitler
invaded Czechoslovakia -- without warning. Later in 1939, Hitler invaded Poland -- without
warning. And now Japan has attacked Malaya and Thailand -- and the United States --without
warning”. Franklin D. Roosevelt

Figures of contrast

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CONTRASTING PAIRS: a ”black and white” contrast between two words or concepts

There’s nothing wrong with America that cannot be solved with what’s right with America.” Bill
Clinton

CONTRADICTION: “…not this but that”

“The house we hope to build is not for my generation but for yours.” Ronald Reagan

COMPARISON: “…more this than that”

“Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and remove all doubt” Abraham Lincoln

PHRASE REVERSALS: Some of the same words in the first part of the contrast are used in the reverse order in
the second part.

I was born in the slum, but the slum was not born in me.” Jesse Jackson

OXYMORON: apparent paradox achieved by the juxtaposition of words which seem to contradict one another.

Cold as Hell

Pretty Ugly

ANTITHESIS: opposition, or contrast of ideas or words in a balanced or parallel construction.

“That’s one small step for man; one giant leap for mankind.” Neil Armstrong

“…where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.”
Martin Luther King

Let’s agree to disagree

It is not death I fear. It is life.

MODES OF APPEAL:

Ethos, pathos and logos each have a different meaning:

 Ethos is an appeal to ethics, and it is a means of convincing someone of the character or credibility of the
persuader. The speaker persuades a crowd by proving that he has the best authority on a particular subject.
Also, the speaker might try to make him/herself trustworthy and believable.
 Pathos is an appeal to emotion and is a way of convincing an audience of an argument by creating an
emotional response. It is not a goal itself to make somebody laugh, cry or be outraged – the goal is to
convince them through their emotional responses.
 Logos is an appeal to logic and is a way of persuading an audience by reason.